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Tuesday, March 06, 2012

The US House of Representatives voted 388-to-3 in favor of H.R.347 - Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011, a bill that gives the government power to bring charges against Americans engaged in political protest anywhere in the country. The right of American citizens to peacefully assemble and petition government for a redress of grievances has been abolished by outlawing protests where key government officials or other VIP's gather. In other words, this bill criminalizes dissent.

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. " - Justice William O. Douglas

What makes the passing of this bill even worse is that it follows directly on the heels of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 that allows for indefinite detention of Americans, which followed the extension of the Patriot Act, allowing the government to seize records and conduct secret surveillance on Americans, even though they have no known connections or ties to terrorist groups.

As in Weimar Germany, our fundamental rights and freedoms are being repealed under the same pretext: that democracy is threatened and must be protected. But who is it that's really threatening our democracy? On top of the police state legislation, the US today has 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies working on programs related to counter-terrorism, homeland security and intelligence. A recent Washington Post investigation warned the our top secret world has become “so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it, or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”